BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Wanderlei Silva vs.
Michael Bisping

Two full careers, measured against each man's own division and against each other — the tape, the read, and every number behind them.

5-7-0 Wanderlei Silva · UFC
20-9-0 Michael Bisping · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

Frame, age, layoff and recent form — green marks the edge on each line.

5-7-0
UFC record
20-9-0
Light Heavyweight
Division (benchmark)
Middleweight
50
AgeΔ 3 yrs
47
5'11"
HeightΔ 2"
6'1"
74"
ReachΔ 1"
75"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
161.2
Layoff (months)Δ 56.8 mo
104.4
WLWLW
Last 5 (newest first)
LLWWW
The read

What the numbers say.

Scouting notes, auto-generated — only stats deviating more than 25% from the division median make this list. No narratives, just deviations.

Wanderlei Silva carries real power — 1.11 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.40 Light Heavyweight norm.
Wanderlei Silva rarely shoots — 0.25 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.87 Light Heavyweight norm.
Michael Bisping defends head shots well — opponents land just 26%, vs a 38% Middleweight norm.
Level of competition

Who did they actually beat?

Full-career records re-graded by the tier of opposition — the same grading the Contender Series pick model uses. Records built on tier-4 competition are worth less than records built on killers.

Wanderlei Silva

Full career not yet synced for Wanderlei Silva — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 3-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.1 wins over .500

Michael Bisping

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 209
Tier 3 — regional circuit 100

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.45 · 20 tier-1/2 wins · 20 finish wins over 39 documented bouts

In the UFC: 14-8 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.7 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

Career totals; norms are the medians of each man's own division.

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

3252.66/min · norm 3.41
Sig. strikes landed
15674.29/min · norm 3.25
3913.21/min · norm 3.35
Sig. strikes absorbed
9992.73/min · norm 3.20
33.6%norm 48.3%
Striking accuracy
37.7%norm 47.4%
62.8%norm 52.9%
Striking defense
65.4%norm 53.8%
91.11/15 · norm 0.40
Knockdowns
80.33/15 · norm 0.32

Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)

Wanderlei Silva

Distance 84.1% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 10.9% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 5.1% (norm 10.4%)

Michael Bisping

Distance 88.1% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 5.8% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 6.1% (norm 10.3%)

What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)

Wanderlei Silva

Head 85.7% (norm 79.2%) · Body 5.9% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 8.4% (norm 9.7%)

Michael Bisping

Head 86.5% (norm 78.0%) · Body 6.8% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 6.7% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.

Zone Silva L/AAccLight Heavyweight med Bisping L/AAccMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 229 / 812 28.2% 41.4% 1271 / 3664 34.7% 40.5%
In the clinch 65 / 105 61.9% 70.9% 152 / 241 63.1% 70.3%
On the ground 31 / 49 63.3% 72.3% 144 / 255 56.5% 69.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 228 / 828 27.5% 38.9% 1132 / 3600 31.4% 38.9%
To the body 43 / 57 75.4% 71.9% 195 / 283 68.9% 71.7%
To the legs 54 / 81 66.7% 81.8% 240 / 277 86.6% 83.3%

Zones with fewer than 25 attempts are marked "too few to rate". Each fighter is measured against the median of leaderboard-eligible fighters in his own division (Light Heavyweight: 93 fighters · Middleweight: 174 fighters).

What lands on them Opponents' accuracy against each man

Green ≤ division median — harder to hit than the typical man in his division.

Zone vs Silva L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med vs Bisping L/AOpp accMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 329 / 933 35.3% 40.4% 820 / 2543 32.2% 39.5%
In the clinch 31 / 57 54.4% 68.7% 84 / 168 50.0% 70.9%
On the ground 31 / 60 51.7% 70.4% 95 / 173 54.9% 69.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 282 / 906 31.1% 37.5% 587 / 2294 25.6% 37.9%
To the body 68 / 93 73.1% 72.3% 185 / 312 59.3% 71.3%
To the legs 41 / 51 80.4% 83.0% 227 / 278 81.7% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

Takedowns, control and submissions — career totals with each man's per-minute rates against his division norm.

240.0% acc · 0.25/15 · norm 0.87
Takedowns landed
2643.3% acc · 1.07/15 · norm 1.42
1248.0% def · norm 66.7%
Takedowns stopped
6263.3% def · norm 63.1%
4:193.6% of cage time · norm 16.5%
Control time
33:069.1% of cage time · norm 19.75%
24:082:58 per 15 · norm 2:48
Time under control
54:532:15 per 15 · norm 3:00
10.12/15 · norm 0.27
Submission attempts
50.21/15 · norm 0.47

Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Bisping has more cage time on record.

Next move

Let the engine settle it.